Real symmetric matrices with partitioned eigenvalues (Q2666915)

For a partition \(\lambda=(\lambda_1,\dots,\lambda_m)\) of \(n\) denote by \(V_{\mathbb{R}}(\lambda)\) the Zariski closure in the space of real symmetric \(n\times n\) matrices of the subset of matrices whose eigenvalue multiplicities are given by \(\lambda\). This real algebraic variety is studied in the paper. Using the Cayley transform the author first gives a rational parametrization of this variety. It is used to compute the dimension of the complexification of \(V_{\mathbb{R}}(\lambda)\). For \(n=3\) and \(4\), explicit equations defining the varieties \(V_{\mathbb{R}}(\lambda)\) are found with the aid of computer. The specialization map to diagonal matrices restricts to an isomorphism between the subspace of orthogonal invariants in the vanishing ideal of \(V_{\mathbb{R}}(\lambda)\) and the subspace of \(S_n\)-invariants in the vanishing ideal of the variety \(V_{\mathbb{R}}(D_{\lambda})\) of diagonal matrices with eigenvalue multiplicities given by \(\lambda\). It is pointed out that the degree of \(V_{\mathbb{R}}(D_{\lambda})\) coincides with the Euclidean distance degree of \(V_{\mathbb{R}}(\lambda)\).